Frank

Frank stared at his straw. He knew that he was supposed to trust Leo, but Leo seemed like a threat to him-a threat to his girlfriend-and not to mention his ability for fire.

Leo grinned as he walked over to where Frank stood. "Hey, man, what's up?" He asked, grinning.

"Frank-which straw did you get?" asked Hazel walking over.

"Short," he replied, looking around the room to see who else got a short one.

Hazel laughed as she saw him trying to find out who else got one. "Frank..."

"Yeah?"

She held out her hand revealing a short straw.

"Oh...well, um, that's great! We're together, with Leo."

Hazel must've noticed the way he said Leo's name. She glanced at him with a look that said tell me later.

If Leo noticed though, he didn't show it.

"I'm going to bed now, guys. Bye," said Frank, getting up.

As he left, he heard Leo say to Hazel, "is there something up with him? 'Cause I don't know what I did..."

He sighed. He'd have to talk to Hazel later.

Later, Frank sat on his bed, not wanting to lie down, but not knowing what else to do, when Hazel knocked on his door and came in.

"Hi," she said, standing beside his bed.

"Hi," he said, "You can sit down, you know."

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" she asked, sitting down.

"Leo," he said bluntly, not bothering to make any effort to hide the resentment.

"Oh. Is that all?"

"Um, yeah..."

"Let me guess-the fire, and...Is it about me?"

He nodded.

"Oh. Well...I know...just trust me-I don't like Leo. Not in that way. At least, I don't think so..."she trailed off, staring at his wall, lost in thought.

"What do you mean, you don't think so?" he asked.

She blushed, much to Frank's annoyance. "Well, you know...there was Sammy..." she trailed off again, this time looking at the ground. "Okay then-I'm going," she said, standing up and leaving the room.

Frank was once again sitting in his room by himself, not knowing what to do., when the ship suddenly lurched forward, throwing Frank off his bed, and then stopped moving altogether.

"We have landed in Rome!" said Leo over the intercom, "you all may now come aboard-I mean, on deck, for your list of chores!"

Frank inwardly groaned. His free time was over. Of course, he'd rather look for a guy that he'd always been creeped out by with a guy who almost threatened him than defeat Gaea, but...

He went on deck and found all the demigods sitting on the ground in a circle talking.

"So...Jason and Piper, you guys stay here while I go see Annabeth off," said Percy, tapping the deck with his hands. "And then you guys will just go right away to wherever you're going, I guess."

"Leo, you'll go around Rome with Hazel and Frank, but Hazel will be leading you. Hazel, do you think that you're able to sense Nico's sword if you get close enough to it?"

"Yes...probably."

"Great to know how confidant our leader is", muttered Leo under his breath. Hazel glared at him.

"Anyway," interrupted Annabeth, "I'll be going off to follow the Mark of Athena while you guys look for Nico, then we'll somehow meet up again later."

Everyone nodded, as though they were all just normal tourists planning on going on a tour of Rome, and was meeting for lunch.

"I better get going then," said Annabeth, putting something that resembled a laptop that was the size of an iPod in her pocket and double-checking that her knife was in its sheath that was attached to her jeans.

"Um, well...bye!" said Leo, looking like he didn't really know what to say.

"Okay, so...I'll meet up with you guys later – and you better have Nico with you," she said, then jumped off the ship.

Percy looked at them, then said, "See you guys later," and followed his girlfriend off the ship.

"Well...I guess we should get going to," said Hazel, standing up from where she as sitting. "You guys have to wait for Percy, but since we need to get this done..."

"ASAP?" asked Leo, drumming his fingers on the deck.

"What's ASAP?" asked Hazel, looking confused.

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting that-"he broke off, glancing around, and seeing the glare on Frank's face. "That, um, you haven't heard of stuff like that. Well, ASAP stands for-"

"We have more important things that talking about what ASAP stands for," interrupted Jason.

"You're right," said Frank. "We should get going now."

"I agree with Frank," stated Hazel.

"Are you guys sure?" asked Piper, looking a bit worried. "If you wanted to you could wait, I guess, but...you're probably better off leaving now."

"I guess that means that I'm outvoted," muttered Leo.

"Alright, let's go," said Frank, and walked over to the side of the ship, looking out at Rome for the first time. "Oh my gods," he said, staring out at the city.

Rome was huge – full of vastness and temples and coliseums and...

"Rome has everything," said Leo, who had come up beside Frank, making him jump. "Do you think we'll have time to get pizzas?"

"Leo, just...forget the pizza's and go get Nico." Said Piper and Frank could tell that she was using charmspeak, as he felt slightly against pizzas. Not totally against though-that would just be sad if he did.

"All of you, too. No pizzas," said Piper, looking at the three of them.

"Alright, fine," said Leo, glaring at her.

"Alright, let's go," said Hazel, obviously trying to avoid any arguments and/or fighting.

Frank jumped over the side of the boat, with Hazel and Leo following behind him.